Infiltration bid foiled by alert Army troops; terrorists flee after gunbattle

An attempted infiltration bid has been successfully foiled by Army troop in Tagdhar sector in north Kashmir. According to Army, the bid to infiltrate was made by Pakistani terrorists during the early hours of Wednesday.

Referring to the incident, the Army said that a group of four terrorists attempted to infiltrate under the cover of darkness and thick jungles in the mountainous terrain in Kalban in Tangdhar. They were spotted by the troops.

There was heavy gunbattle between the forces and the terrorists, following which the infiltrators were seen running away into thick jungles towards the Line of Control (LoC), said the Army.

Army began search operations in the sector after the terrorists fled. The search operation is still underway.

According to Army, there have been repeated attempts of infiltration in north Kashmir but alert forces have continued to foil the same. The Army has been aided on several occasions by sound intelligence. “We have eliminated the nefarious designs of Pakistani forces to foment trouble in the Valley,” said an Army official.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that 94 terrorists were killed and three arrested during infiltration bids by militants along the Indo-Pak border in the state during the last two years.

In a written reply to a question by BJP MLA Rajesh Gupta in the state Assembly, Mufti said that 35 terrorists were killed and three arrested during infiltration bids in 2016. She said 59 militants were killed during such bids in 2017.

Mufti said that 25 persons were killed and 162 civilians injured in shelling and firing by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) in the state during the last two years.

She said that 13 civilians were killed and 83 injured in Pak shelling along the border in 2016. In 2017, 12 people were killed and 79 injured in the shelling by Pakistani forces, she added.